About

Being an artist and designer all my life I have been on a quest to bring beauty and color into people lives through whatever medium I was using. Over the past 50 years my medium has been in the fiber arts. It has only been since I moved to the Great Smoky Mountains that I found the personal inspiration to take my fiber and colors to another level. My hand dyed yarns and exotic fibers reflect the beauty of the seasons here in the Smoky’s. I have found that my colorways touch and inspire others to create wonderful items whether, woven, knitted, crocheted or felted.

In July 2013 I opened a small Etsy shop as a Co-Op, to not only promote my hand dyed and hand spun yarns but to offer other designers and artists a way to promote their craft. All of these women are local East Tennessee women who have been inspired by the woman of Appalachia. What I bring to the table along with the dyeing and spinning, is teaching knitting, crochet, how to make your own yarn with a drop spindle or spinning wheel, yarn and fiber dying, tatting and I’ve recently started to share more about felting.

What I would like to do is expand my inventory of yarn and fibers not only in my Etsy shop but make them available to be sold in yarn shops and at Art & Craft Festivals throughout the South. To do this I need to produce a large quanity of yarns in my custom colorways. To accomplish this I will need to purchase the following,

• Assortment of milled spun yarns of different weights and fiber content to dye

• A wide range of exotic fibers to spin and dye

• Dyes

• Vertical Skein/Hank Winder

Break down of funds

Minimum mill order: $500

Exotic Fiber order: $300

Dyes: $200

Equipment (Winder): $350

Any funds over requested amount will go toward the purchase of shipping mailers for Smoky Mountain Colors.

I so appreciate you taking the time to review and consider my project. Thank you so much.

Risks and challenges

One of the wonderful things about hand dyeing and hand spinning is that it is nearly risk free. I’ve found that in time there will be the right person for the right fiber or yarn. I have developed a growing Social Network which has brought me many of my current customers not only to the Etsy shop but fiber students. My enthusiasm and love for what I do I hope is contagious and brings future customers to Smoky Mountain Colors.

When the funds are in place I will immediately begin to proceed with the ordering of the dyes and mill spun yarns and spinning fibers and equipment. While waiting for those orders to arrive I will be putting the finishing touches on the spring and summer colorways and then ordering the dyes. Yarns should be available mid-March - early April. Updates will be weekly posted on my blog. (www.knittingsatori.blogspot.com) When the colorways are finished mailings will begin to the all the funders for this project. If you would like to pass your reward to someone else please contact me with the recipient information so that I can ship it to them.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

This is the "jack pot", you will receive a hand written note on handmade paper along with a bi-monthly update on the progress of Smoky Mountain Colors. Along with that you will receive 2, 4oz hand dyed skeins of mill spun yarn and a minimum of 400 yards of my hand dyed/hand spun yarn along with 2 of my own designed patterns that go along with the yarn. (colors of my choice) Thank you so much.